Elder Vaclaw's First Week in Padova!

Ciao mama! I am glad you enjoyed the last letter! There were so many things that I missed telling you about and everything that I was wondering if it would be good or not. It is impossible to perfectly describe just how amazing some things are week to week, so I will just keep doing what I have been doing. Anyways, this week has once again been packed full of awesome experiences I would not trade for anything! To begin, one of the major things that impacted me this week was a some-what older man named Piergorgio, he is a super nice guy, who reminds me of Grandpa in a way. We taught him about family history work that our church does, and I was able to show him the family tree that we had printed off before I left for the MTC. He looked at it for awhile, and was really quiet, and afterwards he looked up and said with tears in his eyes, "questa è miravigliarsi, come posso fare cualcosa come questa per la mia famiglia" ("this is wonderful, how can I do something like this for my family?") Or something like that. My ability to understand is getting better, but I still cannot say or write most of it very well. Anyways. so the next time we visited with him we brought our Mission Leader with us to talk with him about it, and he bore a great testimony and Piergiorgio seems more interested than ever, so that is going very well, and I am hoping for the best with him. Another cool thing is all the member meals I am getting!! I am getting fed sooo much, I heard from other missionaries that you do not get many member meals, but I have gotten 5 in the past 2 weeks! My companion said he usually gets 5 in a whole month. This brings me to say what I heard about the food here, and that is, they still did not describe it good enough. One older lady in our ward had us over for lunch and it was basically a 5 course meal with the most tasty food I think I have ever had in my life. Plus I still feel super healthy eating it all, they always give out fruits for desert, which is weird, but nice. One member family has 2 little boys that are 9 and 11 and they have taken a liking to me, which has been nice, because they seem to make the other members take a liking to me as well. The ward here is great by the way. Last Sunday, me and the other 3 missionaries of the ward sang "Far, far away on Judeas Plain" and the members loved it. The bishops wife asked us to sing a different Christmas song every Sunday. I am also singing at zone conference, and I also played for Priesthood, my companion is also a great pianist, so he plays for Sacrament meeting. I love, and am so grateful for you forcing me to do all those practices and musical numbers I never wanted to do. The additional opportunities that music has given me to serve others are invaluable to me. I have an amazing mother and father to thank for that. My P-day is on Wednesday, so I usually email around the afternoon in a public internet place that costs money. Which is a rip off.. but yeah, I cannot send pictures on here, we have to use the bishops computer for that, and I do not know when I will get that opportunity. A cool thing though! I get my mail at zone conference, which is this Friday, which is my birthday!! I will be getting all the stuff on my actual birthday, which will make it even neater. It sounds like everyone is having fun over there! It is cold over here as well, but thankfully it has not snowed yet. Biking around when it is super cold at night stinks sometimes, but I bought some gloves and a hat, so my fingers and ears do not freeze off anymore. And once you bike for a mile or so you warm up. I love biking through the city though, I think I described in my last letter, but I have not gotten used to it yet. We will be biking and suddenly bike by some massive duomo with statues lining it will pop up, or we will go by some exhibit with art, and all the small stores, big plazas, and all that, are all just awesome. I am glad the Nativity went so well! We are getting the Italians into the Christmas spirit by caroling at the Prato this weekend during the market! It will be fun. I was actually just thinking about how each investigator I have to teach is a gift to me. So it is funny that you bring up that I am giving them a gift. I was wondering what I should be doing, or how I can be as effective as possible as a missionary, and of course that made me think of the investigators. I know this gospel is the gift of all gifts, the blessing it brings and the joy that accompanies it are more valuable than any thing. And how can I not be completely happy giving the greatest gift, to so many people? Needless to say, I am finding so much joy everyday in the service I am giving at this time. I am grateful too for being sent to the family I was. I was seeing those two little boys running around and playing and they were just like me and Sawyer, which made me almost cry right there, because I started thinking of how grateful I am that families can be together forever. It gives me comfort that in this brief time I am apart from my family it will seem like nothing in the grand scheme of things. Tell Jack I love him, and that he needs to e-mail me! I know I got away with not emailing Coleman, but Jack does not get that mercy from me. Even if it is just a short e-mail about video games and soccer, tell me what is going on little bud! Anyways, I love you all, and hope you have a great week. I can not wait to get the presents! Oh yeah, and I love that idea, there are some sweet Buon Natale cards here that I was thinking about getting. Ti voglio bene, Anziano Vaclaw